1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an array of photovoltaic cells, and more particularly to photovoltaic arrays that are illuminated with an optical homogenized laser beam.
2. Description of Related Art
Voltage transformers have usually been employed to increase voltage output where insufficient voltage is generated in a system.
Voltage generation from photovoltaic cells can be useful for several remote sensing applications. However, a single photovoltaic cell (diode) generates an insufficient output voltage to be useful in most applications. Fabricating arrays of photovoltaic cells monolithically (on a common substrate) using mass production techniques common to the semiconductor industry is normally preferable to the manual assembly and interconnection of individual diodes. Monolithically fabricated arrays can be adversely affected by parasitic electrical currents (e.g., photo-induced photocurrents) flowing between the individual diodes through the substrate reducing the usable current and voltage produced by the array.
Attempts to fabricate multiple electrically isolated photovoltaic cells in series have met with limited success. For instance, silicon-containing cells mounted on sapphire provide outputs of about 0.7 volts/diode (or cell). A limitation in voltage scaleup and forming a compact, integrated photocell array is excessive leakage current due to the parasitic electric fields as arrays of series diodes are placed in parallel to minimize footprint. The result is a collapse of the voltage across each component of the array, thereby degrading the overall voltage generated by the photocell(s).
A need exists for a high voltage photovoltaic power-induced converter that can be tailored to meet the voltage requirements of most sensing and other applications without the use of voltage transformers.